Earth-anchor.



' c. R. PIEPER.

EARIH ANCHOR. APPLICATION FILED OCT. 1. I914.

Patented Dec. 18,1917.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHESTER B. PIEPER, OF LA CBOSSE, WISCONSIN.

EARTH-ANCHOR.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed October 'Z,-114. Serial No. 865,450.

I To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, CHESTER R. PIEPER,

a citizen of the United States, residing at La Crosse, in'the county of La Grosse and State of Wisconsin, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in, Earth- Anchors, of which the following is a full,

clear, concise, and exact description, referpermost and against the shafts, to spread substantially equals and is in line with the ground, as their supporting shaft is driven 1n, the way for the passage of the folded apart and enter the earth as the shafts are turned. Another features of the invention is, however, not to be limited to this par-' The inventicular type of earth anchor. tion has two main objects; one being the provision of an improved earth penetrating pilot at the lower endTof the blade carrying shaft, and the other an improved formation of the upper end of an anchor shaft into a guy wire receiving eye of such shape that it will not collapse or become distorted under the heavy blows of the sledge hammer employed to drive the anchor shaft into that position in which it is to be turned to force the blades into the ground.

The. pilot or earth penetrating enlargement at the lower end ofthe shaft tapers downwardly and has a top portion which aggregate cross-section of the blades when folded, whereby the blades themselves have httle or no work to do in penetrating the blades bein prepared by said pilot. In order that t e pilot may'readily cut its way into the ground, it is not only provided with a oint at its lower end, but it is also provide with flattened sides sloping-toward 1 or converging in the oint and with cutting edges between. In t e preferred form of the invention, the pilot is parallelogrammatic in cross-section with the diagonals unequal in length, whereby the pilot partakes of-the nature of a blade, its earth penetrating and obstacle cutting qualities being thus improved.

The shaft of my improved anchor is preferably made of wrought iron, and is upset at its upper end there to make it preferably sufliciently thick to enable the formation ofa guy wire receiving eye which is defined by a frame of metal of substantially the thickness of the balance of the shaft. eye and the frame defining it are elliptical, with the major axis in line with the axis of the shaft, whereby the strength of the upper end of the shaft is not only not weakened, but is rather strengthened, so as not to be materially modified in shape by the hammer blows.

Patented Dec. 18, 1917.

I will explain my invention more fully 1 by reference to the accompanying drawing, showing the preferred embodiment thereof, and in which Figure 1 is a longitudinal view with the blades folded, the shaft being shown with an intermediate portion broken away because of lack of space; Fig. 2 is a longitudinal view illustrating the blades open; Fig. 3 is a view of the lower end of the structure as shown in Fig. 1; Fig. 4 is a view of the lower end of the structure as it appears in Fig. 2.; Fig. 5 is a sectional view on line 55 of Fig. 1; Fig. 6 is a sectional view on line 66 of Fig. 2; Fig. 7 is a sectional view. on line 77 of Fig. 1; and Fig. 8 is a sectional view on line8-8 of Fig. 1.

Like parts are indicated by similar charactors of reference throughout the different in cross-section with-diagonals, as viewed in such cross-section, of unequal length. 7 There, is thus formed an arrow-shaped blade withfour downwardly and inwardlysloping cutting edges 3, 3 and 4, 4 that merge at the oint5. The ed es 4-4 are of especial service ice in cutting o stacles encountered in the" downward pro ress of the structure. The inverte base 6 of the-pilot 2 is adjacent a pivot pin 7 that passes throughthe shaft 1, and upon the project ng ends of which the anchor blades 8 are pivotally supported. The shaft 1 is so much smaller than the pilot 2 that the blades may .be folded a ainst the shaft and then be within the area 0 the'top of the pilot. These blades constitute" screw blades, being desirably so earth when the shaft is turned in one direction, and to rest upon said shaft when the direction of rotation is reversed while with-- in the ground. The blades illustrated are so designed as to require three revolutions of the shaft in one direction to unfold them,

- out their greater parts, these flattened portions being nearly but not quite parallel with the longer diagonal of the base 6 of the pilot, one blade (when folded) projecting slightly beyond one'end of such diagonal and the other blade slightly beyond the other end of the diagonal. To bring these two projecting portions of the blades, when folded, substantially into the plane that includes the cutting edges 4, the pin 7 is disposed at a slight angle to the plane containing these cutting edges, whereby the cuts made by the edges 4: may readily be continued by the portions of the folded blades extending beyond the edges 4. these slightly projecting portions of the folded blades, a cross-section taken anywhere through them (when folded) will be within the area or geometrical figure defining the base of the pilot, or an area closely approximating the same. The earth entering portions of the anchor, by reason of the diagonal arrangement illustrated, is made narrower to facilitate the entry of the anchor into the ground. There is thus produeed an earth anchor in which the blades thereof do not perform any large part in the formation of the opening required to receive them. The upper end of the shaft is upset, whereafter a guy wire receiving eye 9 is there formed, this eye being defined by a Except for I frame 10 of a thickness approximating that of the shaft proper. The eye is elliptical in shape, as is the eye frame 10, the ma or axis of the eye and frame being substantially.

substantial place for receiving the hammer blows, which cannot materially mar the shape of nor Weaken the guy wire engaging end of the shaft.

While I have herein shown and particularly described the preferred embodiment of the invention, I do not wish to be limited to the precise features of construction shown, as changes may readily be made without departing from the spirit of my invention.

Having thus described my invention, 1 claim as new and desire to secure by Letters ldatent the following:

An earth anchor including a shaft; two blades pivotally mounted upon the shaft to fold against the shaft or to unfold to be angular thereto; and a downwardly tapering penetrating pilot on the lower end of the shaft beneath the blades and that is parallelograminatic in cross section, with crosssectional diagonals of unequal length, the shape of the largest aggregate cross section of the blades folded approximating that of the inverted base of the pilot, the'pivotal axis of the blades being angular with respect to the longer one of the cross-section diagonals to bring cutting portions of the free ends of the blades, which project beyond this diagonal, substantially in the plane of said diagonal, the shaft being so much smaller than the pilot that the blades may be folded against the shaft and then be substantially within the area of the top of the pilot.

In witness whereof I hereunto subscribe my name this seventeenth day of August,

- CHESTER R. PIEPER. Witnesses:

* H. H. Lona,

M. V. Fa con. 

